Role Call: Aliens, tyrants, and singing squires at the ready!

We’re all over the entertainment map in today’s Role Call – we’ve got aliens, British aristocrats, zombie apocalypse survivors, saucy ladies, and singing squires to tell you about! Take a peek at the latest characters and projects our Harry Potter alumni will be tackling soon!

Sir John Hurt (Garrick Ollivander) has been cast in The History of Love, which is now filming in Montreal through this summer! The film adaptation of the novel by Nicole Krauss tells the story of Hurt’s character, Leopold Gursky, from his life during the Holocaust up until his new life in present-day New York. Alfonso Cuarón (Prisoner of Azkaban) was set to direct, but has since been replaced by French-filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu. John also recently wrapped production on Damascus Cover with Jonathan Rhys Myers.

Fans of Downton Abbey may already be mourning the loss of the series before the final season has aired, but one thing they can’t mourn is the death of the Dowager Countess, played by Dame Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall)! According to creator Lord Julian Fellowes, she “will never die”. The show is also scheduled to end with the annual Christmas special episode, in a two-hour installment.

Frances de la Tour(Madame Maxime) will join Ian McKellan and Derek Jacobi for the second series of Vicious, a Britcom that has yet to air stateside. It should be arriving on PBS for American viewers this August, however! You can see a sneak peek of the series below:

John Cleese (Nearly-Headless Nick) has recently signed on to a fantasy film with actress Debra Messing, entitled Albion: Rise of the Danaan. While we are used to seeing Cleese in roles that make us smile, this role will have a different reaction from fans. He is slated to play the ruler of Albion, a tyrant. It is currently filming with an expected release date in the summer of 2016.

Fans of Cleese won’t have to wait that long to see him, though. His film with the late Robin Williams is coming out this August 14 and today we get our first look at the trailer. Absolutely Anything follows a teacher who has been given an unlimited amount of power by aliens who are trying to determine the worth of the human race. With his power, Neil Clarke, played by Simon Pegg, makes his dog talk (with Williams as the voice), dresses himself by magic, and brings the dead back to life, all with unforeseen consequences. John Cleese gives a comedic voice to one of the aliens testing humankind, which you can hear in the trailer below:

The Legend Of Barney Thomson is a dark comedy that tells the story of Barney (Carlyle), an awkward barber who inadvertently stumbles into serial murder, with both absurd and macabre consequences.

Luke Youngblood (Lee Jordan) and Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas) fans, it’s time to celebrate! Both Galavant and How To Get Away With Murderhave been renewed for a second season! When we talked with Alfred at Expo Patronum in London last month, he still hadn’t heard word on a continuation of the hit ABC drama, but hoped it would get picked up again – and it has! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Luke at the Expo as planned, but we’re glad Galavant and his trusty squire Sid will be back for another round!

A new film will bring together Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn) and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail) as Jim Cartwright directs Cornered. No word yet on what the film will be about, but we’ll keep our eyes and ears out for any hints down the line!

Jim Broadbent will also be starring in a new feature called The Sense of an Ending, which is being shopped to buyers in Cannes. Here’s a synopsis of the story:

The Sense of an Ending centers on Tony Webster, who, when presented with a mysterious legacy, finds himself contending with a past he had never thought much about. As he delves back into his personal history, he is forced to reassess his relationships with those closest to him and revise his understanding of his own nature.

Gemma Jones (Poppy Pomfrey) also wants to keep her one-time film husband busy, hoping that they can return to the Bridget Jones’s Diary series before too long! Speaking to press on the red carpet of the British Academy Television Awards, she worries about how old they might be by the time the next installment might be released, saying,

‘I bumped into Jim Broadbent the other day and said, ‘If they don’t hurry up and make a third we’ll both be on our Zimmer frames!

Finally, Frank Dillane‘s (young Tom Riddle, Half-Blood Prince) Fear the Walking Dead has released a featurette showing a behind the scenes production of the spinoff series, which you can see here. No shots of Frank’s character Nick yet, but we’ll be watching for them!

That’s it for this edition of Casting News – have you heard of any projects the cast or crew of Harry Potter is taking on that you think should be mentioned? Let us know below in the comments section!

Quotes

“Do you know why I admire you, Newt? More, perhaps, than any man I know? You don’t seek power or popularity. You simply ask, is the thing right in itself? If it is, then I must do it, no matter the cost.”